Postdoctoral Researcher Pillar 2 - Wearable devices for real-time biochemical monitoring

Applications are invited from suitably qualified candidates to join the RAPID Institute (Research Advances in Personalised Integrated Diagnostics) Research Group in DCU. The goal of our Institute is to understand and exploit the role of epigenetics in diseases that are particularly governed by
temporal changes in the epigenome (e.g. Neurodegenerative & Metabolomic diseases/disorders). The RAPID Institute works across 3 distinct technology pillars/platforms (e.g. benchtop, portable and wearable diagnostic devices) to delve into the emerging power of epigenomics, explore biochemical wearable sensors, and enable POC settings with rapid, affordable testing. These platforms will be interconnected in a way that impacts epilepsy, substance abuse and infectious disease in unprecedented ways.
The advertised Postdoctoral research role will fall within research as part of Pillar 2 - Wearable devices for real-time biochemical monitoring. PILLAR-2 will focus on developing manufacturable and affordable wearable devices for real-time biochemical monitoring of sweat and skin Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) using key diagnostic markers for the non-communicable diseases. Wearable diagnostic monitoring is the next stage in microfluidic-based diagnostics. The appointed Post Doctoral candidate will be hosted in the School of Biotechnology, Dublin City University, working under the direction of the Principal Investigator within the Institute’s interdisciplinary research team.
Epigenomics has added a new dimension to DNA analysis highlighting the importance of reversible post-transcriptional modification. One modification is – DNA Methylation – a eukaryotic epigenetic mechanism where gene expression is altered through methylation of the C-5 location on cytosine immediately preceded by a guanidine residue – a ‘CpG site’. Recent research increasingly indicates the DNA methylation markers are likely to be important as biomarkers of clinical significance. The state of methylation at any locus is the genome represents a snapshot in time of the dynamic changes that occur in the genome (not in base sequence) in response to an individual’s environment. These provide information on a vast array of phenotypes including aging, diet, lifestyle, physiology, and even vitamin deficiency, to name a few. It is clear that the ‘methylome’ contains an abundance of diagnostic information pertinent to a number of disorders, and an increasing number of DNA methylation-based biomarkers are being characterised with a particular focus on cancer. While only a small number have been FDA- approved to-date, these markers promise an additional biological dimension to non-invasive disease detection and monitoring. While some clinical labs have the capability for methylated DNA analysis, it is not routinely incorporated into standard clinical testing. In the absence lab setting, there is a clear need for cost-effective, flexible diagnostic device platform, capable of being used for diverse biomarker panels, and designed to integrate into current clinical lab workflows. We will address this directly to open up new vistas in genome-based biomarker detection that can easily be incorporated into current clinical lab workflows.
While wearable biochemical sensors – on-body autonomous sensors with integrated microfluidics – are the next evolutionary step in microfluidics, they represent a nascent measurement science. While an abundance of approaches has been described for the integrating microfluidic fluidic elements and chemistries needed for analyte-specific detection, these have primarily been incorporated into desktop-type systems, and the task of incorporating that level of functionality into practical wearable devices is challenging. The commercial success of a wearable device for glucose monitoring (e.g., Dexcom) provides encouragement for biochemical sensing. However, anything requiring more sophisticated multistep biochemical analysis has not yet materialised.
The second approach will focus on wearable sensing of gaseous skin emissions (small volatile metabolites). We will combine the wearable sweat sensor technology to create a discriminatory VOC sensor. We will explore the design of a ‘replaceable flexible electrode unit’ that can be replaced once a threshold saturation point is reached (i.e., positive detection). In parallel, we will
work to develop miniaturised power sources for wearable sensing and for wireless data transfer. Two relevant and cutting-edge applications areas will be pursued, depending on the candidate profile and interest, specifically (a) direct sensing of heroin metabolites in sweat or (b) detection of skin VOC’s associated with epilepsy.